Partners by structural design can be more flexible with billing and payment than MS direct. That’s just a fact. You can use that fact how you want, only trying to be helpful.
Becoming a partner gives you free Azure credit each month, as well as internal use licenses. That’s something many developers can benefit from relative to the minor annual cost. That you would also be able to set up a distributor relationship to get more flexible payment terms directly instead of through a different partner may be more palatable to your go-it-alone approach. I don’t care what you do one way or the other, again, just giving you more information.
DO is a great hosting option, often cheaper, though with trade offs that may or may not make sense. Anytime you’re on the phone with support, whether MS or DO, you’re already in a bad position. Been there. At some point, because of dependencies, you need to learn the constraints of the platform (whichever one) and work within them.
Becoming a partner gives you free Azure credit each month, as well as internal use licenses. That’s something many developers can benefit from relative to the minor annual cost. That you would also be able to set up a distributor relationship to get more flexible payment terms directly instead of through a different partner may be more palatable to your go-it-alone approach. I don’t care what you do one way or the other, again, just giving you more information.
DO is a great hosting option, often cheaper, though with trade offs that may or may not make sense. Anytime you’re on the phone with support, whether MS or DO, you’re already in a bad position. Been there. At some point, because of dependencies, you need to learn the constraints of the platform (whichever one) and work within them.